Police must arrest, prosecute Cross River youths for lynching Catholic sisters – HURIWA

An advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), on Wednesday, tasked the Nigeria Police Force to fish out and prosecute the youths in Cross Rivers who allegedly attacked and tortured two Catholic sisters to death over witchcraft allegations.

HURIWA’s National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, in a statement condemned the killing of the two Catholic sisters who were returning from early morning Mass and noted that jungle justice has no place in a civilized society.

Recall that two widows, Martina Osom and Rose Akon, on Saturday, were accused of witchcraft and allegedly lynched by some youths in Ebbaken community, Boje, in the Boki Local Government Area of Cross River State.

The victims, devout Catholics, were reportedly returning from early morning prayers when the youths accosted them and allegedly killed them.

HURIWA’s Onwubiko declared: “The lynching of the two Catholic sisters is strongly condemned. It is barbaric and a manifestation of cruelty of the highest order. So, therefore, the police must fish out the killers and prosecute the culprits. HURIWA recommends a tough punishment for the culprits to serve as deterrent.

“Jungle justice is alien to any civil society and should be stamped out using all constitutional provisions. For instance, Section 33(1) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) states thus: ‘Every person has a right to life and no one shall be deprived intentionally of his life, save in execution of the sentence of a court in respect of a criminal offence of which he has been found guilty in Nigeria’.

“Similarly, Section 315 of the Criminal code Act states thus: ‘Any person who unlawfully kills another is guilty of an offence called murder or manslaughter, according to the circumstances of the case’.

“Section 220 of the Penal Code prescribes that anyone who intentionally caused the death of another, commits culpable homicide. Section 8(1) of Administration of Criminal and Justice Act (2015) also agreed that no one has the right to take another’s life.

“The killers of the Cross River Catholic youths must be produced and prosecuted because they committed an offence that is liable on conviction to a term of imprisonment not exceeding 5 years, as prescribed by the Section 2(1) of the Violence Against Persons Act.

“Security agencies must stop increasing assault on Catholics. Just weeks ago, four reverend sisters of the Catholic Church were kidnapped along the Okigwe-Enugu road in Imo State, on their way to the church for mass. Some kidnapped Catholic priests have been gruesomely murdered just for being Catholics. This must stop forthwith.”